It is known that revetments and other protective structures are employed to halt soil erosion caused by runoff or precipitation.
These structures are constructed using so-called mattress gabions, i.e., rectangular containers filled with gravel, crushed stone and other material, fitted with a cover and consisting of galvanized or galvanized and plastic-coated double twist wire netting panels joined together with ties or wire stitches. These structures are corrosion-inhibiting and resistant to mechanical stresses.
One particular, well-known system for the creation of the above mentioned structures consists in the construction and use of large, thin "mattress gabions" designed to cover, without any break, extensive tracts of land of the most disparate conformation, as if they were actual "mattresses".
Preparation in the manufacturing plants consists of applying the wire netting, the mattresses being divided into cells by means of vertical partition walls made with the netting of the bottom sheet.
Also known is a system which directly forms the transverse partitions, known as "ribs", obtaining them from the bottom sheet by transverse folds of the same height as those of the "mattress", with similar folds forming the long side walls and short end walls.
The connection together of the sides of each rib, obtained by bending the bottom sheet, with the cover sheet and with the side and end walls is accomplished using wire stitches, some of them fitted in the factory assembled structure and some placed during installation.
When the container is filled with soil to act as ballast, there arises the problem of keeping the earth inside the structure and preventing leaching and dispersion.
Attempts have been made to overcome this problem, albeit with relatively unsatisfactory results, by using sheets of a geotextile material extended under and around the gabion.